Friday, December 7, 2012

State appointed administrator of Inglewood school district steps down - latimes.com

State appointed administrator of Inglewood school district steps down - latimes.com:


State appointed administrator of Inglewood school district steps down

1102914_me_1015_inglewood_3
Kent Taylor, the state administrator in charge of the financially troubled Inglewood School District, resigned from the position Friday after the Department of Education learned of a tentative agreement he made with the local teachers union without approval from the state.
Taylor’s resignation comes months after he was appointed by State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to lead the district — which was taken over by the state in September when Gov. Jerry Brown approved legislation granting $55 million in emergency loans to help the roughly 14,000-student district.
Torlakson has appointed La Tanya Kirk-Carter, the district’s assistant superintendent of business 
at

DeWitt Clinton – early engagement « JD2718

DeWitt Clinton – early engagement « JD2718:


DeWitt Clinton – early engagement

by jd2718

DeWitt Clinton High School

Thursday the Department of Education dragged itself (two representatives) to Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx – to plan the closure of DeWitt Clinton HS. Of course, this is early engagement – they did not announce their intent. But we knew. We all knew.
Early in the week I thought – and most of Clinton thought – that this would be the joint hearing, the spectacle at which a Deputy Superintendent would listen – or pretend to listen – and then announce the closure. But bad info. By the time we found out it was early engagement, many teachers were already planning to attend, some students still wanted to come, and it was not possible to uninvite alumni who had already committed. This accounted for a relatively high turnout (over half of their huge auditorium, only a handful in the balcony) disproportionate to the (relative un-)importance of the event.
Of course, full mobilization will dwarf Thursday night. DeWitt Clinton has been an institution, in the rock-solid 
at

Schools Matter: Robert D. Skeels' Talk at Association of Raza Educators on December 6, 2012

Schools Matter: Robert D. Skeels' Talk at Association of Raza Educators on December 6, 2012:


Robert D. Skeels' Talk at Association of Raza Educators on December 6, 2012

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
LAUSD District 2 candidate Robert D. Skeels speaking, and the following roundtable discussion at the December 6, 2012 meeting of the Association of Raza Educators Los Angeles. The topic was 'Reclaiming Education is a Human Right during this era of Neoliberalism.' The talk was in preparation for the anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, celebrated on the December 10 of each year.
Robert D. Skeels and LAUSD Adult Ed Students at UTLA the night of his endorsement








at

NYC Public School Parents: With hubbub over teacher evaluation deadline, city escapes scrutiny for missing C4E deadline by months

NYC Public School Parents: With hubbub over teacher evaluation deadline, city escapes scrutiny for missing C4E deadline by months:


With hubbub over teacher evaluation deadline, city escapes scrutiny for missing C4E deadline by months

 January 17, 2013
by Leonie Haimson
There has been much public furor over the coming deadline for a new teacher evaluation system in NYC that will be based at least in part on student test scores.  Though supporters like Commissioner King and Merryl Tischsay a new system is necessary to have a more objective basis for teacher evaluation, experts like Bruce Bakerof Rutgers and many others have shown that the “growth scores” the evaluation system will depend upon are not only highly volatile from year to year, but are also demonstrably biased against teachers with low-performing students.  And unlike the teacher data reports, the growth scores do not even attempt to control for the class size; meaning that a teacher who has a class of 30 or more will be unfairly judged compared to another who will be teaching 25 or fewer students.

First, Governor Cuomo set a deadline of January 17, 2013, and warned if the UFT and the city did not agree he would withhold about $300 million in additional state aid. Then the corporate reform troika of Students First NY,Students for Education Reform and Educators for Excellence held rallies to highlight the issue. (Ironically, 



at

Board Members Aim to ‘Cuff Supt? - LA School Report

Board Members Aim to ‘Cuff Supt? - LA School Report:


Board Members Aim to ‘Cuff Supt?

by Samantha Oltman
Board Member Richard Vladovic
A controversial item on the LAUSD School Board agenda this week proposes drastically limiting LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s ability to seek funding for the district by applying for public or private grants.
The resolution, initiated by School Board Members Richard Vladovic, Bennett Kayser, and Marguerite LaMotte, aims to give the school board veto power over grant applications made by the school superintendent in amounts over $750,000.
According to a source with knowledge about LAUSD grant applications, Supt. Deasy has been awarded about $120 million dollars for the district through grants so far.
Because of the split on the school board between union-backed board members and supporters of reform-minded 
at

Key state arguments in school finance case undermined by state witness | Education Blog

Key state arguments in school finance case undermined by state witness | Education Blog:


Key state arguments in school finance case undermined by state witness

 0 0
 
comments (0)
The first expert witness called by the state in the school finance trial in Austin – paid more than $75,000 for his testimony – praised the performance of public schools at current funding levels this week, but also called into question two of the major talking points raised by state attorneys in defending the funding system. Grover Whitehurst, an education policy expert at the Brookings Institution, lauded Texas schools for having a high graduation rate in comparison with other states, as reported in a national study.Texas’ graduation rate of 86 percent tied for fourth with five other states – a statistic that has been touted by state leaders. But during cross examination by an attorney for school districts suing the state, Whitehurst was confronted with his recent comments in a Washington Star article, in which he voiced skepticism about the graduation rate 
at

Mother Crusader: Is CREDO "Part Of The Bandwagon?"

Mother Crusader: Is CREDO "Part Of The Bandwagon?":


Is CREDO "Part Of The Bandwagon?"

by darciecima


At Wednesday's State Board of Education meeting CREDO researchers presented the findings of their study, Charter School Performance in New Jersey.  Commissioner Cerf introduced them by saying he was "nervous" to have CREDO perform the analysis of New Jersey's charter schools.  He claimed CREDO was "not part of the bandwagon" and made a point to say that the national CREDO study is often cited by charter opponents.  

In an opinion piece today in NJ Spotlight Julia Sass Rubin asks four questions of the authors.  

Let's look at the first one.
Question #1: Why does the CREDO press release misrepresent the study’s findings?
The CREDO press release claimed that “New Jersey charter public schools 
at

Free Cooper Union Occupation Rolls On « Student Activism

Free Cooper Union Occupation Rolls On « Student Activism:


Free Cooper Union Occupation Rolls On

by Angus Johnston


The Cooper Union occupation in support of good university governance and a continuation of the college’s century-plus history of free tuition is now in its fifth day, and it shows no sign of fizzling out.
Eleven students barricaded themselves inside the top floor of Cooper Union’s iconic Foundation Building in New York’s East Village on Monday, calling for reforms in the running of the college, a commitment to keep tuition free, and the resignation of Cooper Union president Jamshed Bharucha. Campus security made an effort to drill or saw through their doors that afternoon, but soon relented and haven’t again tried to dislodge them.
Since then, students have staged a series of support actions outside the building. They’ve also hoisted pizza up to the occupiers with a balloon-launched pulley.
On Wednesday supporters of the occupation disrupted a meeting of the Cooper Union board of trustees, which 
at

RheeFirst! » Did Harry Jaffe write Michelle Rhee’s new book? Not according to StudentsFirst staff…

RheeFirst! » Did Harry Jaffe write Michelle Rhee’s new book? Not according to StudentsFirst staff…:


Did Harry Jaffe write Michelle Rhee’s new book? Not according to StudentsFirst staff…

by admin


The Washington City Paper has an interesting little piece out today about how columnist Harry Jaffe may have ghostwritten Rhee’s new memoir.   The evidence for Jaffe’s involvement seems pretty solid:
“Jaffe definitely worked on Radical to some extent. Examiner editor Stephen G. Smith, whose paper runs Jaffe’s column, says Jaffe told editors that he was working on the book. At the end of her memoir, Rhee thanks him for his help, writing, “Harry Jaffe’s writing guidance was essential.”
A more revealing disclosure comes at the end of a story Jaffe wrote for Washingtonian about DCPS in October. The disclosure reads: ‘Harry Jaffe is collaborating on a memoir with former 
at

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: On the U.S. incarceration rate and prison labor

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: On the U.S. incarceration rate and prison labor:


On the U.S. incarceration rate and prison labor

by The Perimeter Primate


1. Declare a War on Drugs and change lots of laws to increase the number of prisoners.


Click to enlarge


2. Within a few decades, the "Land of the Free" achieves First Place!
  
Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, Data for 2003 (obtained From NationMaster).




3. Grow the
at

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Preckwinkle: 'Rahm the emperor has no clothes'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Preckwinkle: 'Rahm the emperor has no clothes':


Preckwinkle: 'Rahm the emperor has no clothes'

by Mike Klonsky

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle stuck her boot right up Rahm's rear end yesterday in a speech to the Union League Club. Of course Preckwinkle was simply saying what everyone in this city already knows about “miserable" state of public education under mayoral control and Rahm's failure to do anything meaningful about the alarming rise in gun violence in the city.
“Clearly this mayor and this police chief [Supt. Garry McCarthy] have decided the way in which 
at

Should High Schoolers Be Required to Read Executive Order 13423? | Truth in American Education

Should High Schoolers Be Required to Read Executive Order 13423? | Truth in American Education:


Should High Schoolers Be Required to Read Executive Order 13423?

by Shane Vander Hart



Ezra Klein asks this at WashPo’s Wonkblog:
Top story: Are we getting smart on education policy?
Common core standards become a lightning rod. ”The Common Core State Standards in English, which have been adopted in 46 states and the District, call for public schools to ramp up nonfiction so that by 12th grade students will be reading mostly ‘informational text’ instead of fictional literature. But as teachers excise poetry and classic works of fiction from their classrooms, those who designed the guidelines say it appears that educators have misunderstood 


Stanley Kurtz: Centralized Control of Curriculum Leads to Tyranny

by Shane Vander Hart
Stanley Kurtz writing at National Review noted that parents are starting to wake up over the push for a national curriculum:
Why does President Obama want your child to read “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management” in school? It’s not the business of a president to shape your local school’s reading assignments. The Constitution and several federal laws prohibit it. Yet by conditioning federal education aid and regulatory waivers on state acceptance of the “Common Core,” Obama has managed to manipulate the states into adopting what is fast becoming a de facto national K–12 curriculum.
Parents across the country are just now waking up to the fact that President Obama has forced 


Mourning the Loss of Poetry

by Shane Vander Hart
On Sunday The Washington Post had a great story that highlighted some of the criticism of the Common Core ELA standards.  One teacher pointed out what she had to remove from her curriculum as a result.
Jamie Highfill is mourning the six weeks’ worth of poetry she removed from her eighth-grade English class at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, Ark. She also dropped some short stories and a favorite unit on the legends of King Arthur to make room for essays by Malcolm Gladwell and a chapter from “The Tipping Point,” Gladwell’s book about social behavior.
at

Diane in the Evening 12-7-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:






A Radical Right-Wing Idea: The A La Carte School

by dianerav
Stephanie Simon of Reuters continues to be the most industrious investigative education journalist in the nation.
Here she reveals the outline of the free-market model of school, where students learn what they want, where they want, when they want, and pay for it with taxpayer dollars.
She calls it “a la carte” schooling.
It eliminates public schools as we have known them. It opens the door to private, for-profit vendors and anyone


My Conversation with Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

by dianerav
I had a great, great time talking to Tavis Smiley and Cornel West!
It was like old home week.
I think you will enjoy listening.


Michigan Senate and House Pass “Right to Work” Bill

by dianerav
The right to work legislation was approved by the Michigan State Senate.
Union protesters ringed the State Capitol building but were ignored.
Governor Rick Snyder pledged to sign it and said that it would bring the state together.
It surely clears the way for employers to hire hourly workers without benefits.


Brookings Institution to Host Governor Bobby Jindal

by dianerav
Readers of the blog may recall that I was asked to resign my non-paid affiliation with the Brookings Institution last June because I was “inactive.”
When I read this morning that Brookings will be hosting an event where the keynote speaker will be Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, I realized the institution had changed very considerably from the time that I worked there in the mid-1990s.
In my view, Bobby Jindal is leading an extremist rightwing crusade to dismantle public education in Louisiana as well as the teaching profession. He is clearing the path for for-profit vendors of online virtual schools that are



LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-7-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Philadelphia Parents File Ethics Complaint Against Powerful Foundation by dianerav People often ask what can be done to slow down the galloping pace of privatization, which has the enthusiastic support of so many Republican governors and legislatures (see Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana), the Obama administration (see Race to the Top), and wealthy foundations (see Gates, Walton, Broad). Philadelphia parents are not sitting back and wailing against the proposed privatizatio... more »
at

Charter schools dividing communities rapidly in more U.S. cities | HechingerEd Blog

Charter schools expanding rapidly in more U.S. cities | HechingerEd Blog:


Charter schools dividing communities rapidly in more U.S. cities

by Sarah Carr
Charter schools now enroll more than 20 percent of public school children in 25 school districts across the country, according to a new report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which tracks charter school growth annually.

Did you Vote for you Charter School Board?

Students at Akili Academy, a charter school in New Orleans. (Photo by Sarah Garland)
Overall, charters enrolled more than two million students in 41 states and the District of Columbia during the 2011-12 school year; that amounts to about 5 percent of public school enrollment nationally.
In only one community, New Orleans, did charters serve more than half of the public school children last year. But the data suggests that within the next few years charters will likely educate a majority of students in other communities as well. For instance, charters enrolled 41 percent of students in both Detroit Public Schools and the District of Columbia Public Schools in 2011-12. Seven other communities experienced a more than 25 percent growth in charter school enrollment between 2010 and 2011.
at

America’s next education ‘crisis’ — and who benefits

America’s next education ‘crisis’ — and who benefits:


America’s next education ‘crisis’ — and who benefits

Posted by Valerie Strauss on December 7, 2012 at 1:00 pm
American public education seems to hurtle from one so-called crisis to the next. What’s the next one? Jeff Bryant, a marketing and communications consultant for nonprofits, explains. He is a marketing and creative strategist with nearly 30 years of experience – the past 20 on his own – as a freelance writer, consultant, and search engine marketing provider. He’s written extensively about public education policy. This appeared on theCampaign for America’s Future website.
By Jeff Bryant
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” has become a popular mantra of the ruling class. Of course, these are not the people who usually experience the brunt of a crisis.
But a pervasive narrative in the mainstream media is that Americans are a people beset by near-continuous crisis, whether it’s the fake crisis of a looming “fiscal cliff” or a real crisis like Frankenstorm Sandy that still has many Northeasterners inexplicably living in the dar
at